


Locomotion

by Kavat



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Anxiety, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-29
Updated: 2019-09-29
Packaged: 2020-11-07 14:27:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 685
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20818793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kavat/pseuds/Kavat
Summary: Phil has an anxiety attack in the middle of a meeting.





	Locomotion

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Phandom Fic Fest Bingo. Prompt: Anxiety.

It feels like ants are running within him. Tiny tiny steps that crawl off beat. It starts like a small path, there without him barely noticing. But more ants join into the march, stomping away.

Soon, the stomping is so prevalent that he can’t ignore it anymore. They stomp to the beat of his heart now, and he can feel it speeding up. Stomp, stomp, stomp, making his hands vibrate where they are playing with a pen on the table. 

He puts his hands in his lap, holding them together to try and stop the vibrating. It doesn’t work. His breath is speeding up now and he’s completely lost attention on what’s going on in the room. Heat spreads up his neck and across his face as he makes a weak excuse and gets out of his chair.

He just needs to get out or something catastrophic will happen

Phil leaves the meeting room as discreetly as possible and closes the door behind him. He finds a bench in the corridor outside and sits down, bent over with his head between his knees and his hands on his neck.

Counting his breaths helps a little. In, out, in, out. In through his nose, out through his mouth. His heart is still beating too hard and too fast and he’s still not far enough away from the terror inside the meeting room. He’s just about to get up and leave the building when the door opens.

“Phil? Are you okay?” Dan asks, closing the door behind him.

“Yes, no, I don’t know,” Phil answers, still with his head between his knees.

Dan sits down next to him.

“Phil look at me, tell me what’s happening.”

“I don’t know, I just couldn’t stay in there any more. It’s silly, I just… It was too much,” Phil says between heavy breaths, lifting his head to look at Dan.

Something about his presence grounds him a little.

“It’s alright. Just breathe with me okay?” Dan puts a hand on his knee.

“In…” Dan taps his hand on Phil’s leg three times as he counts the seconds.

“Out…” Three more taps.

In for three taps, out for three.

Phil keeps breathing with Dan, trying to will his heart into a calmer pace. The ants are still running amok in his chest but his face feels cooler and his hands has stopped shaking.

“Sorry for ruining the meeting. You should go back inside,” Phil says, looking down at his feet.

“Nah it’s fine, Martyn will handle it. They probably just think we’ve sneaked off for a quickie or something.”

It’s a silly and inappropriate joke. Phil loves him for it.

“Like that time at the BBC?” Phil says, smiling at the memory.

Dan chuckles. 

“Yes, God we were stupid. Poor Jameela having to cover for us.”

They keep talking for a few minutes, sharing small anecdotes that are distracting Phil from the ants. The meeting is supposed to be over soon but he really doesn’t feel like seeing any of the other people right now.

“I’m going to go to the bathroom and wash my hands,” he says, standing up.

“Alright.” Dan puts his hand on Phil’s shoulder and gives a gentle squeeze. 

“Meet you downstairs in a bit, I’ll get our things.”

\---

They’re in the Uber on their way home. Phil reaches out across the seat and grabs Dan’s hand.

“Thank you. For today.”

“I should thank you for giving me a reason to ditch that boring meeting,” Dan says with a smile. 

“You’ve done so well lately, you haven’t had an episode like this in a long time. That is progress,” he continues and gives Phil’s hand an encouraging little squeeze.

“I suppose so. I wish I knew what brought it on today though. I hate it every single time.”

“Of course you do. Anxiety is a real bitch and I wish I could evict it out of your body.”

“Mee to. Maybe we can force it out using pizza?”

Dan laughs.

“We sure as hell can try,” he says, already opening up the Domino’s app on his phone.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Please leave a comment and a kudos if you like, and [reblog here](https://kavat.tumblr.com/post/188025754102/locomotion).


End file.
